Tag: Bolton Wanderers

We continue our series of the Football League Championship clubs’ matches of the past this morning with Bolton Wanderers, and six matches from the years between 1954 and 2003. The first match comes from 1954, and sees Bolton travel to the Manor Ground to play Headington United, who were of course to later become Oxford United, on a snow covered pitch in the FA Cup. We then have two matches from the 1970s. First is a home match in the FA Cup against Newcastle United from 1976, and this is followed by a tense last match of the season from a little over twelve months later, against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Burnden Park. Next up comes a marathon series of matches from the 1989 League Cup against Swindon Town, which required three replays before finally being settled, and then, from four years later, we see the team travel to Anfield to play Liverpool in the FA Cup in a replay after the two sides had drawn their first match. Our final match comes from the 2003/04 season, and sees Bolton travel to Ewood Park to play Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League. You can Follow Twohundredpercent on Twitter by clicking...

The culture of association football is sometimes best regarded as a blank canvas onto which we can project just about any value system. Over the years, it has come to take on its own ecosystem as a world of its own. It has clearly defined seasons, its own judiciary – which mirrors but seldom matches that of the outside world – and it demands its own autonomy, free from what it haughtily describes as “outside interference.” There are limits to this independence, though, and this is no more true than when death’s icy hand reaches in and reminds us that we are all, as it were, only here on a short term loan. This season, those of us that immerse ourselves in the peculiar physics of this parallel universe have seen this intrusion force itself upon us several times over this season. The death of the Wales manager Gary Speed last year, for example, was a horrible reminder to all of us that notions of “success” and “failure” within this universe are fleeting and that the hidden depths of those amongst with everything invested in this particular universe can easily be interrupted by the world outside. The universal praise for Speed after his passing was as much about this man as a human being as it was about him as a professional footballer or as the manager of a football...

Shortly before 6.15 yesterday evening, White Hart Lane began to fall silent. As the possible scale of what had happened started to disseminate, first around the ground itself and then out, through cathode ray tubes and broadband connections, a respectful hush descended over English football. The FA Cup took last place last night, as our thoughts turned to the stricken player and his family. The words of goodwill were fulsome and came from across the globe, a sudden ray of warmth on an evening that had suddenly turned so numbingly cold. Yesterday evening, we were all supporters of Bolton Wanderers, and we remain so today. There is a striking irony that this should happen to Fabrice Muamba, of all people. As a child, Fabrice had become used to the sights and sounds of death in the chaotic Congolese capital city of Kinshasa. His arrival in London in 1999 found a young boy gifted in so many respects – not only in terms of sport, but also academically – but unable to speak English. Yet London became his home, and his education eventually, and perhaps inevitably, took place to the wild riches that the life of a professional sportsman has to offer, although he still managed ten GCSE passes and three ‘A’ Levels, only several years after arriving here. In so many respects, this is a professional footballer that is...

Over the weekend, the debate over goalline technology resurfaced as Queens Park Rangers defender Clint Hill’s header against Bolton Wanderers clearly crossed the line with assistant referee Bob Pollock claiming he was unable to see due to a Bolton defender on the line blocking his view. Hot on the heels of the International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) announcement that they were committed to accepting technology, and that they would be reviewing two systems in the summer. It now seems inevitable that goalline technology will be introduced to football sooner rather than later, and many media outlets were unable to contain their glee at this development, with one sportswriter on Sky Sports Sunday Supplement claiming that it was football’s embarrassment that it had so far resisted the introduction of technology, although like the rest of the pro-technology lobby, no-one comes up with an answer to some of the logistical questions raised here two years ago. But does the media’s agenda just lie with wanting to improving the game, or is there more to it? The rolling report on the incident on Sky Sports News was revealing. As well as a plea from Sky Sports’ main analyser Gary Neville saying that technology has to come in because of the sheer number of times these incidents have decided championships and relegations, and how replays can give an instant decision on whether the...

We have something a little different for you today on Twohundredpercent, as Paul Grech meets Ben Perry Acton, a player that forsook the English game to pursue a career in Malta. In addition to this, Ben had a grandfather whose name will be more than familiar to the supporters of Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers – Bill Perry, who scored the winning goal in The Matthews FA Cup Final match between the two clubs in 1953. This article was originally scheduled to appear on Les Rosbifs, but the site’s owner yesterday confirmed that he is to close the site. We will take the opportunity to wish Gavin all the best for the future and thank him for maintaining such an excellent site over the last few years. Gharghur is very much a typical Maltese town, with a multitude of narrow winding lanes all leading to a main square that is dominated by a huge church. Although the setting is unique and spectacular – built as it is into a disused quarry – Gharghur is also typical in that it now boasts one of the synthetic pitches that thanks to UEFA’s and FIFA’s money are replacing gravel ones all across the island. It is at the clubhouse adjacent to this pitch that I meet Ben Perry Acton as he and some of his Gharghur FC teamates pass the time before training kicks off...